'La Boheme,' an opera young people can enjoy

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2007 at 9:04 AM

It’s completely possible to fall in love with opera at first sight, especially if the opera you’re seeing is Puccini’s “La Bohème,” one of the more popular operas in the world that’s about, well, love at first sight.

Francis Ma

It’s completely possible to fall in love with opera at first sight, especially if the opera you’re seeing is Puccini’s “La Bohème,” one of the more popular operas in the world that’s about, well, love at first sight.

The opera has a familiar storyline: young bohemians meeting and falling deeply, and quickly, in love with each other only to be ripped apart by a tragic disease.

Don’t be surprised if it sounds a lot like Jonathan Larson’s musical “Rent” or seems to share a plotline with Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge.” Both were inspired by the 19th century opera and yet most fans of the musical and the movie aren’t intimately familiar with “La Bohème.” They know it exists, but have never seen it performed.

They’ll get a chance to see the show that inspired those two latter-day hits when Boston Lyric Opera stages “La Boheme,” Nov. 2-13, at Citi Shubert Theater in Boston.

But young fans who still shy away from the opera will probably cite familiar complaints: It’ll be boring, it’s in another language, I don’t “get” opera.

According to conductor Ari Pelto, however, opera’s intimidating atmosphere is completely unwarranted and all it takes for anyone to become enchanted with Rodolfo and Mimi’s relationship is to merely give it a chance.

“I hear those excuses from people who think they’ll be turned off by the opera,” says Pelto. “And almost all the time, I hear from first-timers that they love it and that they didn’t think they’d have that experience.”

And as for the language barrier of “La Bohème” (it’s sung in Italian), it’ll have “supertitles,” which are essentially subtitles for the opera.

“With supertitles, you get more of a sense of what the opera is about,” explains Pelto. “You can get a great deal from it just watching and listening, but you have to know what’s going on in the story to get the full experience.”

The supertitles are located above the stage and have been a blessing for opera productions around the country who, like many artistic institutions, still struggle to attract younger audiences.

As for Pelto, he was never turned off by the theater when he was younger. He says he probably first saw “La Bohème” when he was 5 or 6 years old, which is the kind of thing that can happen when you grow up as a violinist.

“It was on television,” says Pelto. “I really only remember Pavarotti singing the part of ‘Rodolpho.’ That performance is certainly right up there with his career highlights.”

But what about today’s youth? Is it possible that fans of Larson’s “Rent” will cross over to check out “La Bohème”?

Pelto isn’t sure if “Rent” will bring in a younger audience (he’s never seen it). But he says that of all the operas in the world, Puccini’s masterpiece has the best chance of enticing and relating to a younger audience.

“It’s an incredibly, convincing story about young people’s lives,” says Pelto. “Even though it’s set in the 19th century, the piece is very contemporary.”

It centers on four friends: Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline. Rodolfo falls for a girl named Mimi, who is suffering from a debilitating disease. Marcello is also dealing with his ex-lover, Musetta (at the very least, you know the tune of her waltz) who has left him for a richer suitor.

The opera is based on the book “Scènes de la vie de Bohème” by Henri Murger, which is said to be about Murger’s experiences as a poor artist living in Paris, France with his friends.

Pelto says the music and text in the opera is so intricate that it’s still possible, even for him, to discover new things about the piece.

“I approach music, in general, as a constant search to what the composer was trying to reveal. As for Puccini, I think he was trying to reveal truth, equally about love and life. He’s portraying in a very truthful way a moment in these characters’ lives.”

And the two characters who have resonated the most throughout history are the ill-fated Rodolfo and Mimi, who create one of the most distinctive love stories of all time.

“It’s an intense love that happens over a short period of time,” says Pelto. “And it’s striking how the personalities of the character is still seen today. We still have young people and they are still behaving in this way.”